


Before there was Team Arrow, there was Team Angel!

by tlh_in_tlh



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Attempt at Humor, Felicity & John are dead, Gen, Please Don't Hate Me, Please Don't Kill Me, Pre-Season/Series 01, angel plotbunny, but nothing to do with end of Season 5, thank you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-05
Updated: 2017-06-05
Packaged: 2018-11-09 12:27:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11104563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tlh_in_tlh/pseuds/tlh_in_tlh
Summary: "Welcome to phase one of your afterlife. Please address your questions to your trainer."In which Dig & Felicity are dead, but just because I was bitten by a "What would they be like as angels?" "Especially if Dig was Felicity's 'drill sergeant' angel?' plotbunny. Not beta'd.Please be kind.





	Before there was Team Arrow, there was Team Angel!

**Author's Note:**

> Felicity and John are dead, but it's not sad.

" **Welcome to phase one of your afterlife. Please address your questions to your trainer.** "  
"Wow, you're huge. Can those wings carry you? They're huge too, but you look...too big to be allowed! Oh! Shouldn't have said that! Sorry! You're my trainer? Do I have to bulk up like you? I dunno if I can! I've never been good at physical stuff! Will that disqualify me? Will you make me do pushups? I'm so bad at those! What...?"  
"Felicity, slow down." The very large man (angel?) in fatigues in front of her held out his hand. She took it. His hand was huge and warm, and he shook hands firmly but didn't mash her fingers. That was...nice? She tried to relax.  
"Oh, you know my name! Hi! I'm Felicity...but you know that...putting the brakes on in three, two, one... Restart! Hi! How are you?"  
"I'm fine. It's good to meet you. Yes, I'm your trainer. My name is John Diggle. You can call me Dig. Nope, no bulking up, no pushups." He released her hand, and it fluttered. She tried to control it, and ended up just swishing it around her face.  
"Oh good, 'cause I'm really..."  
"Bad at those. Yes, you mentioned." Felicity winced, but he was smiling, a little bit, anyway. He looked tired, and sad, deep down. She supposed he would be. Being an angel (and he **was** an angel, right? With those wings?) meant you were dead, and your friends were mourning you, and you couldn't be involved in their lives anymore. Crap! Was **she** an angel? Was she dead? How? When? Had she been **good** enough to be an angel? Wait, were there Jewish angels? Crap, could angels say 'crap'!?  
"Felicity! Slow down! Yes, you're dead, you'll find out how soon, I don't know anything about how good we need to be or the religious requirements. And apparently angels can, in fact, say 'crap'." She took a deep breath and looked up (and up and up) at John Diggle's (Dig's) face. He looked very concerned. And still tired and sad. His hands were very gentle on her shoulders, though.  
Maybe she could be friends with John (Dig) here and now, and she could help cheer him up. Maybe? If she didn't annoy him too much, like she annoyed all her PE teachers ever... She took a deep breath.  
"So! Training! Lemme learn! What's the plan?"  
"First, flying." He gestured to her back, which she now realized felt...strange. Heavy and light both at once. She glanced over her shoulder and froze at the feel of new muscles pulling and the sight of an expanse of dark brown feathers looming toward her. The feathers (WINGS!) froze too, and she realized THEY WERE ATTACHED TO HER!  
"COOL! WINGS! OHMYGOD!" She clapped her hands over her mouth when she realized she'd said that out loud. Dig finally chuckled.  
"Everybody says that at first. So, you bleach your hair." She shot a narrow-eyed glance at him, and self-consciously touched her hair.  
"How'd you know that?" He chuckled again.  
"Wings match hair color." He grew serious again. "Or, rather, they match your self-image of your hair color, once you get used to including them." Oops, reminded him that they're dead. She winced again and began casting around for other conversational subjects. He beat her to the punch.  
"OK, stretch out your arms." He demonstrated, she followed, and her wings flared out. Coooool. He smiled. "Start learning how the muscles feel, how they move the wings. Remember, 'right now' we're in metaphysical space and you can't crash into anything physical. But when we leave 'here' and go to the physical world for our trials, we can crash, and if we do, we'll cause more problems than we solve." Now he looked more serious than ever, and Felicity swallowed hard. This...could be a problem.

"Now we'll need to send you through assessments, to find out what you're good at." At the tense set of her shoulders (and wings), a corner of his mouth ticked up a tiny bit. "Your physical assessments will be 'later', when you've had a chance to get used to your new reality." She raised her hand.  
"Felicity, you aren't in a class, you're the only one here to ask questions, so just ask them."  
"I didn't wanna interrupt. I'm really bad about that, and I **know** it, I'm working on it." Dig looked like he barely prevented himself from rolling his eyes. She suspected she was gonna get really used to his 'Done with this' look. "OK, every time you say 'here' or talk about time like 'right now' or 'later', I can **hear** the air quotes. What's up with that?" He blinked.  
"We're...not in a place or a time. We just...are. Or 'are not'. It's complicated. And confusing."  
"Oh! Like Schroedinger's Cat! That's fine! I get that." He blinked at her again.  
" **That** you get." She nodded enthusiastically.  
"I'm super smart. And there's tons of online forums that debate this stuff all the time. Oh, hey, are you Jewish? 'Cause I am. Was? But this isn't really like either the Christian Heaven OR what I was led to believe the Jewish afterlife would be like."  
"Nope, wasn't Jewish. I can't tell what denomination this is or what's going on. We each get a trainer and a booklet."  
"Oooh, like the 'Handbook For The Recently Deceased'?" Another tick of a smile.  
"Yeah, kinda. Mine looks like a military training manual. Yours probably looks different. Like a computer manual?" he hazarded as a guess.  
"Oh! In my purse?" She realized she did have her purse and started digging through it. Well, all the usual stuff was in there, but no manual. Her tablet, though... She pulled it out and tapped it on. Yep, the first thing that came up was 'Handbook For The Recently Deceased'. She felt a little cheated. "Aren't there copyright issues with this?"  
"Felicity, a lot of your perceptions of 'here' are going to be created by what you used to refer to as your subconscious. The actual information and skills won't be, though."  
"But you're real, though, right? I'm pretty sure I'd remember having met you before!"  
"And I would definitely remember having met you before, too." His smile looked a little more relaxed now, and she gave a mental fist-pump at the success.


End file.
